Brussels, 20/11/2012 (Agence Europe) - A press release has indicated that on Tuesday 20 November in Strasbourg, the revision of the “Brussels 1” regulation, which helps to settle cross-border litigation more easily in civil and trade related issues, also plans on abolishing costs for recognising decisions made in different EU courts under the famous “exequatur” procedure. Rapporteur Tadeusz Zwiefka (EPP, Poland) welcomed this development and explained that “so far, the recognition and enforcement of a judgement was often subject to a long and costly procedure of exequatur, which imposes an obligation on the court of the member state which is concerned by the judgment, to confirm the enforcement of the judgement given by the member state of origin. The cost of such confirmation, depending on the case, ranged from €2,000 to €12,000. From now on, the judgments will flow freely within the EU. The procedure will be quicker and simpler for the citizens, thus saving consumers and businesses more than €47 million per year.”
The EPP MEP also explained that in addition to the abolition of exequatur, the regulation introduces a number of changes designed to increase legal certainty and facilitate access to justice. For example, individual consumers and workers living in the European Union will be able to sue a vendor or a company from outside the EU in a court of their country of residence. This has been impossible until now. The Regulation also specified rules aimed at avoiding parallel proceedings and the so-called torpedo actions, i.e. abusive litigation tactics aimed at prolonging the dispute. The Council is set to adopt the text at its next meeting later this year. (SP/transl.fl)